Visible light sensor embedded organic light emitting diode display panels and display devices including the same

ABSTRACT

An OLED display panel may include a substrate, an OLED light emitter on the substrate and configured to emit light, and a visible light sensor on the substrate and configured to detect at least a portion of the emitted light based on reflection of the portion of the emitted light from a recognition target. The visible light sensor is in a non-light emitting region adjacent to the OLED light emitter so as to be horizontally aligned with the OLED light emitter in a horizontal direction extending parallel to an upper surface of the substrate, or between the substrate and a non-light emitting region adjacent to the OLED light emitter such that the visible light sensor is vertically aligned with the non-light emitting region in a vertical direction extending perpendicular to the upper surface of the substrate.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean PatentApplication No. 10-2018-0120055 filed in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office on Oct. 8, 2018, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

This disclosure relates to organic light emitting diode display panelsand display devices including the same, and more particularly to visiblelight sensor embedded organic light emitting diode display panelsconfigured to implement biometric recognition and devices including thesame.

2. Description of the Related Art

Organic light emitting diode (OLED) display panels have merits ofexcellent luminance, driving voltage, and response rate characteristicsand implementing color images, so they are being employed for variousdisplay devices.

Meanwhile, recently, display devices have increasingly implementedbiometric recognition technologies via which certain biometricinformation or gesture information is extracted by one or more devicesto authenticate a person in financial, health care, and mobile fields.Particularly, leading smartphone companies are focusing on adaptingfingerprint and iris recognition technologies.

Since Apple Inc. took over AuthenTech, which was a manufacturer ofsemiconductive sensors for finger scans, Apple Inc. have beenconsistently mounting fingerprint sensors in iPhones® and iPads®. US2015-0331508 also discloses technologies of forming a near-infraredsensor for fingerprint recognition on the same plane as an OLED emitter.That is, a separate near-infrared emitter and near-infrared detector areutilized for fingerprint recognition.

Since the near-infrared emitter and the near-infrared detector areformed on the same plane as the OLED emitter in US 2015-0331508, anaperture ratio of the OLED emitter including such near-infrared emitterand the near-infrared detector may be decreased compared with aconventional OLED emitter having no near-infrared emitter andnear-infrared detector. The aperture ratio decrease of the OLED emittermay have a large influence on display characteristics of a mobiledisplay device including the OLED emitter, particularly, a smart phonehaving a small display area.

SUMMARY

Some example embodiments provide a visible light sensor embedded OLEDdisplay panel (also referred to herein as simply an “OLED displaypanel”) configured to implement biometric recognition without an effecton an aperture ratio of an OLED emitter or reducing or minimizing theeffect, thereby improving performance of the OLED display panel, forexample improving the display characteristics of a display deviceincluding the OLED display panel.

Some example embodiments provide a display device that includes avisible light sensor embedded OLED display panel configured to implementbiometric recognition without an effect on an aperture ratio of an OLEDdisplay part or reducing or minimizing the effect, thereby improvingperformance of the OLED display panel, for example improving the displaycharacteristics of a display device including the OLED display panel.

An OLED display panel according to some example embodiments includes asubstrate; an OLED light emitter on the substrate, the OLED lightemitter being configured to display images and to emit light forbiometric recognition; and a visible light sensor configured to detectlight reflected by a recognition target after being emitted by the OLEDlight emitter, wherein the visible light sensor is positioned in orunder a non-light emitting region of the OLED light emitter.

By employing the OLED light emitter as a light source for the visiblelight sensor, the OLED display panel may be configured to performbiometric recognition without a separate light source other than theOLED light emitter, so as to prevent an aperture ratio decrease of theOLED light emitter.

The OLED display panel may maintain the aperture ratio of the OLED lightemitter at about 100% or may reduce or minimize the aperture ratiodecrease by forming the visible light sensor in a non-light emittingregion that does not affect the aperture ratio of the OLED light emitterbased on the location of the visible light sensor, or by forming thevisible light sensor in a stack structure under the non-light emittingregion (e.g., between the non-light emitting region of the OLED lightemitter and a substrate) or by forming the visible light sensor in agreen pixel region of the OLED light emitter (e.g., replacing one ormore green OLED light emitters in a pattern or array of green OLED lightemitters of the OLED light emitter of the OLED display panel).

Accuracy or efficiency of biometric recognition provided by theaforementioned OLED display panels may be improved since the amount orintensity of the light emitted to perform biometric recognition isincreased or maximized based on employing the biometric recognitionsensor as a visible light sensor.

The visible light sensor may be formed of (e.g., may at least partiallycomprise) an organic material and thus may be bent or stretchable.Accordingly, the visible light sensor may contribute to easily realizinga flexible display device and thus improve portability and versatilityof a display device that includes the OLED display panel.

According to some example embodiments, an OLED display panel may includea substrate, an OLED light emitter on the substrate, the OLED lightemitter configured to emit light, and a visible light sensor on thesubstrate, the visible light sensor configured to detect at least aportion of the emitted light based on reflection of the portion of theemitted light from a recognition target. The visible light sensor may bein a non-light emitting region adjacent to the OLED light emitter so asto be horizontally aligned with the OLED light emitter in a horizontaldirection extending parallel to an upper surface of the substrate, orbetween the substrate and a non-light emitting region that is adjacentto the OLED light emitter such that the visible light sensor isvertically aligned with the non-light emitting region in a verticaldirection extending perpendicular to the upper surface of the substrate.

The visible light sensor may be configured to absorb light in anentirety of a wavelength spectrum of visible light.

The visible light sensor may include an organic photodiode including anorganic material.

The visible light sensor may include an a-Si-based P-I-N photodiode, apoly-Si-based P-I-N photodiode, a CIGS (Cu—In—Ga—Se) photodiode, or aCd—Te photodiode.

A display device may include the OLED display panel.

A method for performing biometric recognition of a user of a displaydevice, the display device including the OLED display panel, may includedriving the OLED light emitter to emit light and further driving thevisible light sensor to detect at least a portion of the emitted lightbased on reflection of the portion of the emitted light from arecognition target that is a portion of the user, in response to adetermination that the OLED light emitter is turned on, user access tothe display device is disabled, and the recognition target is in acertain proximity to the OLED display panel. The method may includeturning off the visible light sensor, granting user access to thedisplay device, and driving the OLED light emitter to display an image,in response to a determination that recognition of the recognitiontarget is completed via comparison of a reference recognition targetimage with an image of the recognition target generated based on anoutput signal of the visible light sensor in response to detecting thereflected portion of the emitted light.

The determination that the recognition target is in the certainproximity to the OLED display panel may be based on receiving a signalfrom a touch sensor of the OLED display panel.

The driving the OLED light emitter may include selectively driving aparticular limited set of OLED light emitters of an array of OLED lightemitters of the OLED display panel. The further driving the visiblelight sensor may include selectively driving a particular limited set ofvisible light sensors of an array of visible light sensors of the OLEDdisplay panel.

The determination that the recognition target is in the certainproximity to the OLED display panel may be based on receiving a signalfrom a touch sensor of the OLED display panel, the signal indicating alimited area, of a total area of a surface of the OLED display panel,that is in contact with the recognition target. The driving the OLEDlight emitter may include selectively driving the particular limited setof OLED light emitters that are a limited portion of the array of OLEDlight emitters that vertically overlap with the limited area in responseto a determination that the recognition target is in contact with thelimited area. The further driving the visible light sensor may includeselectively the particular limited set of visible light sensors that area limited portion of the array of visible light sensors that verticallyoverlap with the limited area in response to the determination that therecognition target is in contact with the limited area.

The OLED display panel may further include an infrared light emitter onthe substrate, the infrared light emitter configured to emit infraredlight, and an infrared light sensor on the substrate, the infrared lightsensor configured to detect at least a portion of the emitted infraredlight based on reflection of the portion of the emitted infrared lightfrom a recognition target. The infrared light sensor may be in aseparate non-light emitting region adjacent to the OLED light emitter,or between the substrate and a separate non-light emitting region thatis adjacent to the OLED light emitter.

The OLED display panel may further include an array of OLED lightemitters on the substrate, the array of OLED light emitters includingthe OLED light emitter; and an array of visible light sensors on thesubstrate, the array of visible light sensors including the visiblelight sensor. The array of OLED light emitters may extend through afirst region of the OLED display panel, and the array of visible lightsensors extends through a second region of the OLED display panel, thesecond region being smaller than the first region, such that the arrayof visible light sensors do not extend through at least a third regionof the OLED display panel that includes at least one OLED light emitterof the array of OLED light emitters, and no visible light sensors.

The first region may extend over a total area of the OLED display panel,the second region may extend over a limited area of the OLED displaypanel, and the third region may extend between at least one side of thesecond region and at least one edge of the OLED display panel.

The third region may completely surround the second region and may bebetween all sides of the second region and all edges of the OLED displaypanel.

The OLED display panel may further include an array of infrared lightemitters on the substrate, the array of infrared light emittersconfigured to emit infrared light; and an array of infrared lightsensors on the substrate, the array of infrared light sensors configuredto detect at least a portion of the emitted infrared light based onreflection of the portion of the emitted infrared light from arecognition target. The array of infrared light emitters and the arrayof infrared light sensors may extend through at least a portion of thefirst region.

The array of infrared light emitters and the array of infrared lightsensors may not extend through the second region.

The array of infrared light emitters and the array of infrared lightsensors may not extend through the third region.

According to some example embodiments, an OLED display panel may includea substrate, an OLED light emitter stack on the substrate, the OLEDlight emitter stack including a plurality of sub-pixels, including a redOLED sub-pixel, a green OLED sub-pixel, and a blue OLED sub-pixel, eachof the red, green, and blue OLED sub-pixels configured to emit light;and a visible light sensor on the substrate, the visible light sensorconfigured to detect at least a portion of the emitted light based onreflection of the portion of the emitted light from a recognitiontarget. The visible light sensor may be in a non-light emitting regionof the OLED light emitter stack so as to be horizontally aligned with atleast one adjacent OLED sub-pixel of the OLED light emitter stack in ahorizontal direction extending parallel to an upper surface of thesubstrate, or between the substrate and a non-light emitting region ofthe OLED light emitter stack such that the visible light sensor isvertically aligned with the non-light emitting region of the OLED lightemitter stack in a vertical direction extending perpendicular to theupper surface of the substrate.

The visible light sensor may be configured to absorb light in anentirety of a wavelength spectrum of visible light.

The visible light sensor may include an organic photodiode including anorganic material.

The visible light sensor may include an a-Si-based P-I-N photodiode, apoly-Si-based P-I-N photodiode, a CIGS (Cu—In—Ga—Se) photodiode, or aCd—Te photodiode.

The visible light sensor may be partially overlapped with at least oneOLED sub-pixel of the OLED light emitter stack in the verticaldirection.

The visible light sensor may include an organic photodiode including alower electrode, an upper electrode, and a visible light absorptionlayer between the lower and upper electrodes. The lower electrode may bea reflecting electrode. The upper electrode may be a transparentelectrode.

A display device may include the OLED display panel.

According to some example embodiments, an OLED display panel may includea substrate, a driver stack on the substrate, and an OLED light emitterstack on the driver stack. The OLED light emitter stack may include aplurality of sub-pixels configured to emit light and a visible lightsensor, the plurality of sub-pixels including a red OLED sub-pixel, agreen OLED sub-pixel, and a blue OLED sub-pixel, the visible lightsensor configured to detect at least a portion of the emitted lightbased on reflection of the portion of the emitted light from arecognition target. The visible light sensor may be in a non-lightemitting region of the OLED light emitter stack so as to be horizontallyaligned with at least one adjacent OLED sub-pixel of the OLED lightemitter stack in a horizontal direction extending parallel to an uppersurface of the substrate, or in the green OLED sub-pixel.

The visible light sensor may be configured to absorb light in anentirety of a wavelength spectrum of visible light.

The visible light sensor may include an organic photodiode including anorganic material.

The visible light sensor may include an a-Si-based photodiode, apoly-Si-based P-I-N photodiode, a CIGS (Cu—In—Ga—Se) photodiode, or aCd—Te photodiode.

The visible light sensor may include an organic photodiode including alower electrode, an upper electrode, and a visible light absorptionlayer between the lower and upper electrodes. The lower electrode may bea reflecting electrode. The upper electrode may be a transflectiveelectrode.

A display device may include the OLED display panel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a pixel layout of light emitters of avisible light sensor embedded organic light emitting diode (OLED)display panel according to some example embodiments,

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a visible light sensor embeddedOLED display panel according to some example embodiments,

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for illustrating a motion algorithm of a visiblelight sensor embedded display panel,

FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating an operation of biometricrecognition, specifically, fingerprint recognition by using a visiblelight sensor embedded organic light emitting diode display panelaccording to some example embodiments,

FIG. 5 shows a read out circuit of an OLED sub-pixel and a visible lightsensor,

FIG. 6 is a timing diagram for a fingerprint recognition operation and adisplay signal,

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a pixel layout of a light emitter ofa visible light sensor embedded organic light emitting diode displaypanel according to some example embodiments,

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a visible light sensor embedded OLEDdisplay panel according to some example embodiments,

FIGS. 9A-9C are schematic views showing mobile display devices includingvisible light sensor embedded OLED display panels according to someexample embodiments,

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing a visible light sensorembedded OLED display panel that includes a touch sensor according tosome example embodiments,

FIGS. 11A-11C are cross-sectional views showing visible light sensorembedded OLED display panels that include an infrared light emitter andan infrared light sensor according to some example embodiments,

FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing various regions of a visible lightsensor embedded OLED display panel having different light sensorconfigurations according to some example embodiments, and

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a display device that includes one ormore visible light sensor embedded OLED display panels according to someexample embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, example embodiments of the present inventive concepts willbe described in detail so that a person skilled in the art wouldunderstand the same. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in manydifferent forms and is not construed as limited to the exampleembodiments set forth herein.

Regarding the reference numerals assigned to the elements in thedrawings, it should be noted that the same elements will be designatedby the same reference numerals, wherever possible, even though they areshown in different drawings

Hereinafter, visible light sensor embedded organic light emitting diode(OLED) display panels according to some example embodiments is describedwith reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a pixel layout of visible light sensors embedded OLEDdisplay panel 1000 according to some example embodiments and across-sectional view thereof, respectively. The cross-sectional viewshown in FIG. 2 may be a cross-sectional view of the OLED display panel1000 shown in FIG. 1 along view line II-II′.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a visible light sensor embedded OLED displaypanel 1000 according to some example embodiments is a stack-type displaypanel that includes a visible light sensor stack 200 that is stackedunder an OLED light emitter stack 300. Accordingly, as shown in FIGS. 1and 2, and as further shown in at least FIGS. 4 and 7-8, an OLED displaypanel 1000 may include a substrate 110, an OLED light emitter stack 300on the substrate 110, and at least one visible light sensor 210 on thesubstrate 110. The OLED light emitter stack 300 may include one or moreOLEDs 310 configured to emit light 330. Each OLED 310 may be referred toherein as simply an OLED light emitter that is configured to emit light330. The visible light sensor 210 may be configured to detect at least aportion of the emitted light 330 (e.g., light 245) based on reflectionof the portion of the emitted light 330 from a recognition target.

In the OLED light emitter stack 300, sub-pixels 310R, 310G, and 310B aregrouped to provide a unit pixel (Px), where a unit pixel (Px) asdescribed herein may be referred to as simply a pixel (Px), and the unitpixel (Px) is repeated and arranged in a pattern, also referred toherein as a matrix. The sub-pixels 310R, 310G, and 310B may includeand/or may be defined by separate OLEDS 310 that may be configured toemit light of different wavelength spectra, such that the sub-pixels310R, 310G, and 310B may be understood to be configured to emit light ofdifferent wavelength spectra. For example, sub-pixel 310R may be definedby an OLED 310 that is configured to emit light 330 in a red wavelengthspectrum (“red light”), sub-pixel 310G may be defined by an OLED 310that is configured to emit light 330 in a green wavelength spectrum(“green light”), and sub-pixel 310B may be defined by an OLED 310 thatis configured to emit light 330 in a blue wavelength spectrum (“bluelight”).

FIG. 1 shows a pentile matrix type layout in which one pixel (Px)comprises two green sub-pixels 310G, one red sub-pixel 310R, and oneblue sub-pixel 310B (e.g., RGBG). As described herein, sub-pixel 310Rmay be referred to as a red OLED sub-pixel, sub-pixel 310G may bereferred to as a green OLED sub-pixel, and sub-pixel 310B may bereferred to as a blue OLED sub-pixel.

In the array shown in FIG. 1, the pixel array of the OLED display panel1000 includes an array of red sub-pixels 310R, an array of bluesub-pixels 310B, and an array of green sub-pixels 310G. As shown, eacharray defines a separate pattern of the respective sub-pixels 310R,310B, 310G, where some or all of the sub-pixels in a given pattern ofsub-pixels may include a particular type of sub-pixel 310R, 310B, 310G.It will be understood that a given sub-pixel 310R, 310G, 310B that isdefined by a pattern of respective OLEDs may not include an OLED 310that corresponds to the sub-pixel. For example, as described furtherbelow with reference to FIGS. 7-8, a visible light sensor 210 mayreplace an OLED 310 in a given sub-pixel that corresponds to a patternof OLEDS 310 (e.g., the visible light sensor 210 may be in a position atwhich an OLED 310 should otherwise be located based on a pattern ofother OLEDs configured to emit the same wavelength spectrum of light)such that the visible light sensor 210 may be referred to as being “in”the given sub-pixel.

As further shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the OLEDs 310 are spaced apart fromeach other in a horizontal direction that is parallel to the uppersurface 110 u of the substrate 110 (e.g., an x-direction and/or ay-direction). The regions adjacent to the OLEDs 310 in the OLED lightemitter stack 300 may be referred to as non-light emitting regions 800of the OLED light emitter stack 300, and thus each unit pixel (Px) mayinclude one or more OLEDs 310 and a non-light emitting region 800adjacent to the one or more OLEDs 310. As shown, the non-light-emittingregion of a unit pixel (Px) may be a continuous region that surroundsthe OLEDs 310 of the pixels (Px) of the OLED display panel 1000 in thepixel array of the OLED display panel 1000. As shown, the non-lightemitting region(s) of the OLED display panel 1000 may include insulatinglayers 350 and 360, which may be at least partially transparent to light330 that may be emitted by the OLEDs 310 and reflected back into andthrough the OLED light emitter stack 300 from a recognition target.Accordingly, reflected light 245 may pass through the OLED light emitterstack 300 via the non-light emitting region(s) of the unit pixels (Px)of the OLED display panel 1000.

It will be understood that, because the unit pixels (Px) of the OLEDdisplay panel 1000 may have the same horizontal boundaries (e.g., in thex and y directions) as the corresponding unit pixels (Px) of the OLEDlight emitter stack 300, where the unit pixels (Px) of the OLED lightemitter stack 300 are defined by a particular grouping of the sub-pixels310R, 310G, 310B of the OLED light emitter stack 300, the unit pixels(Px) of the OLED display panel 1000 and the corresponding unit pixels(Px) of the OLED light emitter stack 300 may be collectively referred toherein as simply unit pixels (Px) or simply pixels (Px).

It will be understood that, in some example embodiments, some or all ofthe pixels (Px) and/or sub-pixels in the OLED display panel 1000 and/orOLED light emitter stack 300 may be arranged according to one or moreother patterns, or matrices, including a strip structure pattern.

It will be understood that the OLED display panel 1000 may be describedas including an array of pixels (Px), where each pixel (Px) of the OLEDdisplay panel 1000 may be considered to correspond to a separate pixel(Px) of the OLED light emitter stack 300. Additionally, each pixel (Px)of the OLED display panel 1000 may include one or more sub-pixels(Sub-Px), where each sub-pixel (Sub-Px) of a pixel (Px) of the OLEDdisplay panel 1000 may be considered to correspond to a separatesub-pixel 310R, 310G, 310B of the OLED light emitter stack 300. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 2, a given pixel (Px) of the OLED lightemitter stack 300 includes a certain set of sub-pixels 310R, 310G, and310B that are configured to emit light having different wavelengthspectra (e.g., one red sub-pixel 310R, one blue sub-pixel 310B, and twogreen sub-pixels 310G may define a pixel (Px) of the OLED light emitterstack 300), and a given pixel (Px) of the OLED display panel 1000encompasses (and is defined by) the given pixel (Px) of the OLED lightemitter stack 300, such that the given pixel (Px) of the OLED displaypanel includes (and is defined by) the given pixel of the OLED lightemitter stack 300 and the portions of the visible light sensor stack200, driver 100, substrate 110, and cover glass 450 that overlap thepixel (Px) of the OLED light emitter stack 300. Similarly, as shown inFIG. 2, each separate sub-pixel (Sub-Px) of the given pixel (Px) of theOLED display panel 1000 includes (and is defined by) a separatesub-pixel 310R, 310B, 310G of the pixel (Px) of the OLED light emitterstack 300 and further includes the portions of the visible light sensorstack 200, driver 100, substrate 110, and cover glass 450 that overlapthe respective sub-pixel of the OLED light emitter stack 300.

As further shown, the boundaries of the sub-pixels (Sub-Px) and pixels(Px) of the OLED display panel 1000, while defined by the respectivesub-pixels 310R, 310G, 310B and pixels (Px) of the OLED light emitterstack 300, may not exactly be the same as the boundaries of therespective sub-pixels 310R, 310G, 310B and pixels (Px) of the OLED lightemitter stack 300. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, each sub-pixel ofthe OLED display panel 1000 includes a respective sub-pixel of the OLEDlight emitter stack 300 and also includes a portion (e.g., half) of thenon-light emitting region 800 extending between the respective sub-pixelof the OLED light emitter stack 300 and one or more adjacent sub-pixelsof the OLED light emitter stack 300. OLED display panel 1000 includes agiven pixel (Px) of the OLED light emitting stack.

Herein, where OLED sub-pixels are referenced, it will be understood thatsaid OLED sub-pixels are referring to sub-pixels of the OLED lightemitter stack 300 (e.g., 310R, 310G, 310B), instead of sub-pixels of theOLED display panel 1000.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, a visible light sensor 210 is disposed under thenon-light emitting region 800 to implement the detection of the visiblelight 245 received at the visible light sensor 210 through the non-lightemitting region 800 between respective OLED sub-pixels (Sub-Px). FIG. 2shows one example that the sub-pixels 310R, 310G, and 310B and thevisible light sensor 210 are partially overlapped in the verticaldirection (z-direction). Accordingly, as shown in FIGS. 1-2, a visiblelight sensor 210 may be between a non-light emitting region 800 of theOLED light emitter stack 300 and the substrate 110 so as to bevertically aligned with the non-light emitting region 800 of the OLEDlight emitter stack 300 in a vertical direction (e.g., z-direction)extending perpendicular to the upper surface 110 u of the substrate 110.

It will be understood that, as described herein, an element that is“above” or “below” another element may be referred to as being “on” theother element. Similarly, an element that is described herein to be “on”another element may be “above” or “below” the other element.Furthermore, an element that is described to be “between” two otherelements may be separately “on” each of the two other elements. It willbe understood that an element that is “on” another element may be“directly” on the other element so as to be in direct contact with theother element or may be “indirectly” on the other element so as to beisolated from direct contact with the other element by one or moreinterposing spaces and/or structures.

It will be understood that an element and/or direction that is describedherein as being parallel with a reference surface may be substantiallyparallel with the reference surface such that the element and/ordirection is parallel with the reference surface within manufacturingtolerances and/or material tolerances. It will be understood that anelement and/or direction that is described herein as being perpendicularwith a reference surface may be substantially perpendicular with thereference surface such that the element and/or direction isperpendicular with the reference surface within manufacturing tolerancesand/or material tolerances.

The OLED display panel 1000 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 may be suitable for ahigh resolution display panel having a display resolution of greaterthan or equal to about 2960×1440 (WQHD) and an aperture ratio betweensub-pixels (Sub-Px) of about 4%. But the present disclosure is notnecessarily limited to the resolution and the aperture ratio.

When the terms “about” or “substantially” are used in this specificationin connection with a numerical value, it is intended that the associatednumerical value include a tolerance of ±10% around the stated numericalvalue. When ranges are specified, the range includes all valuestherebetween such as increments of 0.1%.

The OLED light emitter stack 300 is a region configured to emit light,and therefore is configured to emit light to display an image and alsoto emit light for biometric recognition, simultaneously or separately.The OLED light emitter stack 300 includes OLEDs 310 (also referred toherein as OLED light emitters), each OLED 310 including an organicemission layer 311, and a first electrode 313 and a second electrode 315formed under and on the organic emission layer 311. As shown, the OLEDlight emitter stack 300 includes insulation layers 350 and 360, whereportions of the OLEDs 310 may be formed on insulation layer 350, in gapsin the insulation layer 350, and/or between separate instances ofinsulation layer 350, and insulation layer 360 may be formed on bothinsulation layer 350 and the OLEDs 310 to cover the OLEDs 310.

The organic emission layer 311 may be formed of (may at least partiallycomprise) various organic materials inherently configured to emit light330 of any one of red R, green G, and blue B colors (wavelength spectra)away from an upper surface 110 u of the substrate 110, that is, in anopposite direction from the visible light sensor stack 200. Accordingly,and as shown in FIG. 1, each separate OLED 310 in a unit pixel (Px) ofthe OLED light emitter stack 300 (and thus a unit pixel (Px) of the OLEDdisplay panel 1000) may be considered to be, and thus may define, aseparate sub-pixel 310R, 310B, 310G of the OLED light emitter stack 300(OLED sub-pixel).

Either one of the first electrode 313 and the second electrode 315 isconnected to a driving voltage line (Vdd) and an output terminal (OutPut) to function as an anode, and the other is connected to a commonvoltage (Vss) to function as a cathode. In order to well express lightemitted from the organic emission layer 311, the second electrode 315may be formed as a light-transmitting electrode with a thickness of lessthan or equal to about 100 nm. For example, the second electrode 315 maybe formed of MgAg, Ag, Mg, Al, Mo, Ti, TiN, Ni, ITO, IZO, AlZO, AlTO, orthe like. The first electrode 313 may be formed with a reflectingelectrode. As described above, luminous efficiency of the OLED 310 maybe improved based on the first electrode 313 being a reflectingelectrode. For example, the first electrode 313 may be formed of Al, Ag.Mo, AlNd, Mo/Al/Mo, TiN, ITO/Ag/ITO, ITO/Al/ITO, ITO/Mo/ITO, or thelike. It may be formed with a light transmitting electrode to fluentlyenter light toward the lower visible light sensor stack 200. Thelight-transmitting electrode may have a transmittance of greater than orequal to about 80%. For example, the first electrode 313 may be formedof ITO, IZO, AlZO, AlTO, or the like.

The visible light sensor stack 200 may include a visible light sensor210 that is an organic photodiode including a visible light absorptionlayer 211, a lower first electrode 213 and an upper second electrode215. Particularly, the visible light absorption layer 211 may be formedwith (may at least partially comprise) an organic material which mayabsorb visible light through the whole region of visible light (e.g.,may absorb visible light at any wavelength within the entire wavelengthspectrum of visible light, for example between about 380 nm to about 740nm). For example, it may include any material suitable for absorbingvisible light, for example, squaraine based, D-π-A based, Bodipy based,phthalocyanine based materials, and the like. For example, the visiblelight absorption layer 211 may include any well-known OLED materialconfigured to emit visible light of any wavelength spectrum, including,for example, any one of phosphorescent materials, fluorescent materials,and TADF. Well-known materials that may at least partially comprise oneor more visible light absorption layers 211 of the one or more visiblelight sensors 210 may include metal complexes such as Ir complex, Ptcomplex, Os complex, and Pd complex, anthracene (blue), Alq3 (green),DCM (red), any combination thereof, or the like. It will be understoodthat, in some example embodiments, a visible light sensor 210 may beother than an organic photodiode, for example the visible light sensor210 may be a silicon photodiode, a quantum dot photodiode, or the like.

As shown, the visible light sensor stack 200 includes insulation layers240 and 250, where portions of the visible light sensors 210 may beformed on insulation layer 240, in gaps in the insulation layer 240,and/or between separate instances of insulation layer 240, andinsulation layer 250 may be formed on both insulation layer 240 and thevisible light sensors 210 to cover the visible light sensors 210.

As shown in FIG. 2, a given unit pixel (Px) may include multiple visiblelight sensors that are vertically aligned with separate non-lightemitting regions 800 of the OLED light emitter stack 300 or separateportions of a same non-light emitting region of the OLED light emitterstack 300.

Referring to FIG. 1, in some example embodiments a visible light sensorstack 200 may include an individual visible light sensor 210 thatextends continuously in vertical alignment with (“verticallyoverlapping”) a continuous non-light emitting region 800 that extendscontinuously between adjacent OLEDs 310 of the OLED light emitter stack300 of the unit pixel (Px). As shown in FIG. 1, where the OLEDs 310 arearranged in a pentile matrix in the OLED display panel 1000, thenon-light emitting region 800 of the unit pixel (Px) may have a hatchshape (#), and the visible light sensor stack 200 may include anindividual visible light sensor 210 that has a hatch shape (#) so as tobe vertically aligned with (e.g., overlap in the Z-direction) thehatch-shaped non-light emitting region 800.

Separate unit pixels (Px) may include separate visible light sensors210, such that visible light sensors 210 of adjacent unit pixels (Px)are isolated from direct contact with each other in a horizontaldirection. As shown, a hatch-shaped visible light sensor 210 may includegaps that vertically overlap with at least a portion of one or moreOLEDs 310. Referring to FIG. 2, which shows two separate visible lightsensors 210 under a given unit pixel (Px) of the OLED light emitterstack 300, in some example embodiments, a unit pixel (Px) of the OLEDdisplay panel 1000 may include an individual visible light sensor 210instead of multiple visible light sensors 210 under the unit pixel (Px)of the OLED light emitter stack 300. At least a portion of one or morevisible light sensors 210 may extend horizontally, beyond verticallyoverlapping with one or more non-light emitting regions 800, such thatthe one or more visible light sensors 210 at least partially verticallyoverlap with (e.g., overlap in the Z-direction with) one or more OLEDs310 of the OLED light emitter stack 300.

In some example embodiments, a visible light sensor 210 in a given unitpixel (Px) (e.g., under a given unit pixel (Px) of the OLED lightemitter stack 300 and within a corresponding given unit pixel (Px) ofthe OLED display panel 1000) may have a shape with no internalhorizontal gap spaces such that the visible light sensor 210 may extendcontinuously under, and thus vertically overlap with, both some or allof the one or more OLEDs 310 and the one or more non-light emittingregions 800 of the OLED light emitter stack 300. For example, while thecross-sectional view of FIG. 2 provides the appearance of a unit pixel(Px) that includes two separate visible light sensors 210, or anindividual visible light sensor 210 that includes a gap space under thesub-pixel 310R and extending continuously out of plane of thecross-sectional view (e.g., in the Y-direction), in some exampleembodiments, the cross-sectional view of the unit pixel (Px) of FIG. 2may show an individual visible light sensor 210 that extendscontinuously under at least the sub-pixel 310R and under at least aportion of the non-light emitting regions 800 at opposite sides of thesub-pixel 310R.

While a greater quantity of visible light sensors 210 in a unit pixel(Px) and/or a visible light sensor 210 that has reduced or no verticaloverlap with the one or more OLEDs 310 of the unit pixel (Px) mayprovide improved resolution of images generated by the visible lightsensors 210 of the OLED display panel 1000, larger visible light sensors210 that extend continuously under some or all of the OLEDs in a unitpixel (Px), in addition to the non-light emitting region(s) in the unitpixel (Px), may be fabricated more easily and with reduced cost due toreduced complexity of the shape of the visible light sensor 210.

While FIGS. 1-2 may illustrate that each unit pixel (Px) of the OLEDdisplay panel 1000 may include one or more visible light sensors 210,and may in some example embodiments include multiple visible lightsensors 210 such that the quantity of visible light sensors 210 in anOLED display panel 1000 is greater than the quantity of unit pixels (Px)of the OLED display panel 1000 (and thus greater than the quantity ofcorresponding unit pixels (Px) of the OLED light emitter stack 300), itwill be understood that, in some example embodiments, an OLED displaypanel 1000 may include a visible light sensor stack 200 that includesone or more visible light sensors 210 that extend between multiple(e.g., adjacent) unit pixels (Px) (e.g., under multiple unit pixels ofthe OLED light emitter stack 300) such that one or more visible lightsensors may be “shared” by multiple (e.g., two or more) unit pixels(Px). In some example embodiments, the ratio of the quantity of unitpixels (Px) (which may be either of the unit pixels of the OLED displaypanel 1000 or the corresponding unit pixels of the OLED light emitterstack 300) to visible light sensors 210 in an OLED display panel may bebetween about 2:1 to about 1:0.1. In some example embodiments, the pixeldensity (e.g., density of unit pixels (Px)) in an OLED display panel1000 may be about 550 pixels per inch (ppi) and the sensor density(e.g., density of visible light sensors 210) in the OLED display panel1000 may be about 200 dots per inch (dpi).

Referring back to FIG. 1, in some example embodiments an OLED displaypanel 1000 may include one or more visible light sensors 210 that arenot arranged in a pattern or position that is based on the patterns ofOLEDs/sub-pixels of the OLED light emitter stack 300 but is instead arelocated at one or more particular positions in the OLED display panel1000, for example at an edge of the OLED display panel 1000 as shown inFIG. 1. Such visible light sensors 210 may be repeatedly arranged in orunder one or more non-light emitting regions 800 in the OLED displaypanel 1000.

At least one of the first electrode 213 and the second electrode 215 isconnected to a driving voltage line (Vdd) and an output terminal (OutPut) and functions as an anode, and the other is connected to a commonvoltage (Vss) and functions as a cathode. As the first electrode (lowerelectrode, 213) is formed with the reflecting electrode, it may furtherimprove sensing efficiency of the visible light sensor 210. For example,the first electrode (lower electrode, 213) may be formed of Al, Ag. Mo,AlNd, Mo/Al/Mo, TiN, ITO/Ag/ITO, ITO/Al/ITO, ITO/Mo/ITO, and the like.The second electrode (upper electrode, 215) may be formed with thetransparent electrode, so that incident light may be absorbed into thevisible light absorption layer 211 as much as possible. For example, thesecond electrode (upper electrode, 215) may be formed of ITO, IZO, AlZO,Ag nanowire, graphene, CNT, and the like.

The driver 100, also referred to herein as simply a “driver stack,” maybe disposed between the substrate 110 and the visible light sensor stack200 not to deteriorate light-emitting function and light-receivingfunction of the OLED light emitter stack 300 and the visible lightsensor stack 200.

The driver 100 is formed on the substrate 110 and includes varioustransistor arrays 120 a, 120 b, and 120 c (see FIG. 11A) configured toinput (receive) and output (transmit) electrical signals from/to thevisible light sensor stack 200 and the OLED light emitter stack 300which are on the upper part and an interlayer insulating layer 150 inwhich a multi-layered wire layer 140 is formed.

The OLED transistor array 120 a and a visible light sensor transistorarray 120 b may be formed on the same plane. While FIG. 2 onlyillustrates an OLED transistor array 120 a and wire extending betweenthe OLED transistor array 120 a and a single OLED 310 of the OLEDs 310of sub-pixels 310R, 310B, and 310G in the cross-sectional view of FIG.2, it will be understood that the driver 100 includes additionaltransistor arrays 120 a that are each separately connected to a separateone of the OLEDs 310 of sub-pixels 310R and 310G, and said additionaltransistor arrays 120 a are positioned out of plane of thecross-sectional view of FIG. 2 (e.g., in the Y-direction). When thetransistor arrays 120 a, 120 b, 120 c are formed on the same plane, eachprocess of forming the OLED transistor array 120 a and a visible lightsensor transistor array 120 b may be simultaneously carried out so it isnot needed to prepare an additional process mask, compared to the caseof forming them on different planes, so the number of process steps maybe reduced. In addition, the thickness of the display panel may bethinner than the case of forming the transistor arrays in differentplanes, so it may be more suitable for embodying a flexible displaypanel.

The substrate 110 may be formed with various materials such as glass orplastic. In a case of plastic, it may be formed with a transparent andflexible material.

A cover glass 450 attached by an adhesive (not shown) is disposed on theOLED light emitter stack 300 and may protect the lower structure toprovide a display surface and a biometric recognition surface.

While not shown in FIG. 2, it will be understood, for example as shownin FIG. 10, that the OLED display panel 1000 may include a touch sensor1010.

In some example embodiments, the OLED display panel 1000 may havereduced thickness, and thus reduced device volume, improved flexibility,or any combination thereof due to the visible light sensors 210 beingincluded “in-cell” as shown in FIG. 2 (and further as shown in FIG. 8 asdescribed below). As a result, the amount of light transmission by theOLEDs 310 of the OLED light emitter stack 300 may be improved, which mayimprove sensitivity of the visible light sensors 210 when the OLEDs 310are used to emit light and the visible light sensors 210 are used todetect reflections of the emitted light from a recognition target toperform biometric recognition operations. Accordingly, the OLED displaypanel 1000 may be configured to enable improved biometric recognitionaccuracy. In addition, because the visible light sensors 210 areincluded “in-cell” with the OLEDs 310 as shown in FIG. 2 (and further asshown in FIG. 8 as described below), fabrication of the OLED displaypanel 1000 may be simplified (e.g., by omitting bonding of separatestacks that include a separate element of the visible light sensors 210and the OLEDs 310 and include separate, respective substrates on whichseparate elements are formed prior to the bonding). Additionally, powerconsumption in a display device that includes the OLED display panel1000 may be improved based on reducing or omitting separate lightsources for biometric recognition operations beyond the OLEDs 310 thatare already included in the OLED display panel 1000 and can be used aslight sources for the visible light sensors 210 during a biometricrecognition operation.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation algorithm of a displaypanel 1000 embedded with the visible light sensor 210; FIG. 4 is aschematic view showing operations of biometric recognition,specifically, fingerprint recognition by using of the visible lightsensor embedded organic light emitting diode (OLED) display panelaccording to some example embodiments; FIG. 5 shows a read out circuitof each sub-pixel 310R, 310G, and 310B and a visible light sensor 210;and FIG. 6 is a timing diagram for expressing a fingerprint recognitionoperation and a display signal. FIG. 3 exemplifies an organic visiblelight sensor (Vis OPD) as a visible light sensor. It will be understoodthat the operation algorithm shown in FIG. 3 may be partially orentirely implemented by processing circuitry as described herein withreference to FIG. 13 and may be implemented with regard to any of theexample embodiments of the OLED display panel 1000, including exampleembodiments illustrated in FIGS. 7-8. The cross-sectional view shown inFIG. 4 may be a cross-sectional view of the OLED display panel 1000shown in FIG. 1 along view line II-II′.

As shown in FIGS. 3-6, a method for performing biometric recognitionwith regard to a portion of a user of a display device, such portionbeing referred to as a recognition target (e.g., face, hand, iris,fingerprint, etc.,) where the display device includes any of the exampleembodiments of OLED display panels 1000, may include driving an OLED 310to emit light 330 and further driving a visible light sensor 210 todetect at least a portion 245 of the emitted light 330 based onreflection of the portion 245 of the emitted light 330 from arecognition target, in response to a determination that the OLED 310 isturned on, user access to the display device is disabled, and arecognition target that is a portion of the user is in a certainproximity to the OLED display panel; and turning off the visible lightsensor 210, granting user access to the display device, and driving theOLED 310 to cause the OLED display panel 1000 to display an image, inresponse to a determination that recognition of the recognition targetis completed via comparison of a reference recognition target image withan image of the recognition target generated based on an output signalof the visible light sensor 210 in response to detecting the reflectedportion 245 of the emitted light 330.

First, it is determined whether R/G/B OLEDs (e.g., the OLEDs 310 ofsub-pixels 310R, 310G, and 310B) are turned on (S1001). The turning onof the R/G/B OLEDs 310 means a state of screen mode transition afterswitching a start power (e.g., initializing the supply of electricalpower to the OLEDs 310 of the OLED display panel 1000). If the R/G/BOLEDs (e.g., the OLEDs 310 of sub-pixels 310R, 310G, and 310B) areturned off (e.g., power is not being supplied to the OLEDs 310), avisible light sensor 210 (Vis OPD) and R/G/B OLEDs 310 (Vis-OLEDs) arenot driven (S1002). Restated, if the OLEDs 310 are turned off at S1001,then signals are not supplied to the OLEDs 310 and/or the visible lightsensors 210 to drive same and/or cause same to generate output signals.In the case when R/G/B OLEDs (e.g., the OLEDs 310 of sub-pixels 310R,310G, and 310B) are determined to be turned on (e.g., electrical poweris being supplied to the OLEDs 310), it is determined whether a lockingdevice is turned on or off (S1003).

The locking device may be a functionality that is implemented byprocessing circuitry as described with reference to FIG. 13 to enable(“grant”) or disable (“deny”) user access to the display device and/orfunctionality of the display device, for example by selectively enablingor disabling functionality to display images to the user via the OLEDdisplay panel 1000. Restated, a determination is made whether useraccess to a display device that includes the OLED display panel 1000 isenabled (“unlocked”). Such user access may be enabled based on userinteraction with one or more interfaces of the display device (e.g.,contact of a fingerprint with a particular portion of the OLED displaypanel 1000, user interaction with a button of the display device that isseparate from the OLED display panel 1000, any combination thereof, orthe like). In some example embodiments, user access may beenabled/disabled separately from the operational algorithm of FIG. 3,such that the display device may grant unrestricted access to any userinteracting with the display device via the OLED display panel 1000; insuch cases the user access functionality of the display device (e.g.,the “locking device”) may be considered to be turned off, such thatbiometric recognition of a user may not be necessary. If the lockingdevice is determined to be turned off at S1003 (e.g., user access isenabled), the visible light sensor 210 (Vis OPD) and R/G/B OLEDs(Vis-OLEDs, e.g., the OLEDs 310 of sub-pixels 310R, 310G, and 310B),which are one of the locking devices, are not driven (S1004), similarlyto at S1002. In the case when the locking device is turned on (e.g.,user access to the display device via the OLED display panel 1000 ispresently disabled), it is determined whether a recognition target is ina certain proximity to the OLED display panel 1000 (S1005). As describedbelow with reference to FIG. 10, an OLED display panel 1000 may includeone or more touch sensors 1010 that may generate output signals based oncontact between a recognition target that is a portion of the user(e.g., a fingerprint) with at least a portion of the OLED display panel1000. A touch sensor of the OLED display panel 1000 may be considered tobe turned on when the touch sensor generates an output signal thatindicates that a recognition target is in contact with at least aportion of the OLED display panel 1000. A recognition target may bedetermined to be within a certain proximity of the OLED display panel1000 (S1005=yes) if an output signal is received from the touch sensorin response to the recognition target being in contact with the OLEDdisplay panel.

If the recognition target is not in the certain proximity to the OLEDdisplay panel (e.g., no signal is received from the touch sensor), thevisible light sensor 210 (Vis OPD) and R/G/B OLEDs (Vis-OLEDs, e.g., theOLEDs 310 of sub-pixels 310R, 310G, and 310B) are not driven (S1006),similarly to S1002 and S1004. In some example embodiments, where thebiometric recognition operation of FIG. 3 involves performing biometricrecognition of a recognition target that is not in contact with the OLEDdisplay panel (e.g., face recognition, iris recognition, or the like),the determination at S1005 may include driving one or more visible lightsensors 210 (e.g., a particular limited selection of the visible lightsensors 210 of the OLED display panel 1000) to generate output signalsthat may be processed to generate an image of a field of view of theOLED display panel 1000 to determine whether a recognition target (e.g.,user iris, user face, or the like) is within the field of view and thusis in proximity to the OLED display panel. Thereby, power consumptionmore than required for biometric recognition operations may be reducedor prevented by inhibiting the use of power to drive the OLEDs 310 andvisible light sensors 210 except in response to a determination that theOLEDs 310 are turned on (and thus the OLED light emitter stack 300 isturned on), user access to the display device is disabled, and arecognition target is in a proximity to the OLED display panel (e.g., incontact with the OLED display panel 1000 and/or within the field of viewof the OLED display panel 1000). In the case when the touch sensor isturned on and the locking device is turned on, it is determined whethera finger 500 is contacted on the surface of the display panel 1000 for athreshold period of time or longer (e.g., greater than or equal to about1 second) as shown in FIG. 4 (S1007), or whether a recognition targetwithin the field of view of the OLED display panel 1000 is within thefield of view for at least a threshold period of time (e.g., greaterthan or equal to about 1 second).

One or more visible light sensor 210 (Vis OPD) and R/G/B OLEDs(Vis-OLEDs, e.g., the OLEDs 310 of sub-pixels 310R, 310G, and 310B) areselectively operated (driven) in the case when the recognition target isdetermined to be in the proximity to the OLED display panel for at leastthe threshold period of time or longer (S1008). In other words, as shownin FIGS. 5 and 6, driving the OLEDs 310 may include turning on the gatelines (Gate n+1, Gate n+2, Gate n+3) connected to red OLED sub-pixel310R, blue OLED sub-pixel 310B, green OLED sub-pixel 310G which causesred OLED sub-pixel 310R, blue OLED sub-pixel 310B, green OLED sub-pixel310G to emit light 330, so that visible detecting light 330 may bereflected or scattered on a surface of a recognition target (e.g., thefinger 500 surface, also referred to as a fingerprint 501, as shown inFIG. 4).

It will be understood that, in some example embodiments, operation S1008includes driving a particular limited set of the visible light sensors210 and OLEDs 310 of the OLED display panel 1000. For example, where therecognition target is a fingerprint in contact with a particular limitedarea of the total area of a surface 1000 a of the OLED display panel1000, as indicated by one or more touch sensors of the OLED displaypanel 1000, operation S1008 may include selectively driving only alimited portion of visible light sensors 210 that are in a limitedportion of an array of visible light sensors 210 and OLEDs 310 that arein a limited portion of an array of OLEDs 310 that vertically overlapwith the limited area.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, when the reflected or scattered light isreceived (detected, absorbed, or the like) by a visible light sensor 210(Vis sensing OPD), the gate line (Gate n) connected to the visible lightsensor 210 (Vis sensing OPD) turns on (e.g., the visible light sensor210 is driven), and a output line turns on, the signal accumulated inthe visible light sensor 210 (Vis sensing OPD) is output through theoutput line (Output) as an output signal. The output signals generatedby an array of visible light sensors 210 in some or all of the OLEDdisplay panel 1000 may be processed to generate an image of therecognition target (e.g., a fingerprint image of the finger 500) throughan image generation process, which may include any well-known processfor image generation based on output signals generated by an array ofvisible light sensors 210, thereby performing fingerprint recognition. Alight emitter (e.g., OLEDs 310) emits each of red, green and blue light330, but the visible light sensor 210 (Vis sensing OPD) may beconfigured to absorb light in an entire visible light wavelengthspectrum (e.g., may absorb visible light at any wavelength within theentire wavelength spectrum of visible light), such that the outputsignal does not specifically indicate the specific wavelength of theincident light 245 within the visible wavelength spectrum. Accordingly,output signals by an array of visible light sensors 210 in the OLEDdisplay panel 1000 may be processed to generate a monochromatic image.Even if carrying out Fourier transform at a low frequency, an OLEDdisplay panel 1000 that includes visible light sensors 210 that are eachconfigured to absorb the same wavelength spectrum of light, and thatextends over some or all of the entire visible wavelength spectrum, mayprovide merits of producing clearer digital image process results thanthe case of absorbing each of red, green, and blue. Restated, an OLEDdisplay panel 1000 that includes unit pixels (Px) with one or more (orsharing one or more) visible light sensors 210 that are each configuredto absorb the same wavelength spectrum of light 245, where thewavelength spectrum extends over some or all of the entire visiblewavelength spectrum, may be configured to generate a monochromatic image(based on output signals generated by the visible light sensors 210 inresponse to incident light 245) that has greater resolution than a colorimage generated based on output signals generated by an array of RGBlight sensors having similar size, sensor quantity, and patternproperties. This may be because a visible light sensor 210 that absorbslight across the entire visible wavelength spectrum may have morephotocurrent than a visible light sensor 210 that only absorbs one ofred, blue, or green light during rising time and fall time forgeneration of each frame (e.g., image).

It will be understood that the gate lines shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 may beturned on based on certain visible light sensors 210 and OLEDs 310 beingdriven according to signals generated and/or transmitted by one or moreinstances of processing circuitry as described herein to supply power tothe respective gate lines. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, such signals maybe supplied to the gate lines via the “data” line; such signals may bereferred to herein as “data” signals.

Subsequently, it is determined whether the biometric recognition iscomplete (S1009), and when the fingerprint recognition is completed, thedriving of the visible light sensor 210 (Vis OPD) and R/G/B OLEDs(Vis-OLEDs, e.g., the OLEDs 310 of sub-pixels 310R, 310G, and 310B) thatare driven starting at S1008 is ended (S1010), and the locking device isalso turned off (i.e., user access to the display device is granted)(S1011). It will be understood that biometric recognition may includecomparing the generated image of the recognition target with one or morestored reference images of recognition targets that are associated withauthorized users for which access to the display device is pre-granted,and where recognition may be determined to be completed if the imagegenerated based on processing output signals from the one or morevisible light sensors 210 matches a stored reference recognition targetimage within at least a threshold confidence level (e.g., at least 90%confidence match). Where the recognition target is a fingerprint, thereference recognition target images may be stored fingerprint images offingerprints of authorized users. Similarly, where the recognitiontarget is a face or iris, the reference images may be stored face imagesor iris images, respectively.

In some example embodiments, an OLED display panel 1000 may include oneor more infrared light emitters 310IR and one or more infrared lightsensors 210IR, and where the recognition target is not in contact withthe OLED display panel 1000 (e.g., an iris or face), the driving atS1008 may include selectively driving at least one or more infraredlight emitters 310IR and at least one or more infrared light sensors210IR to cause an image of the recognition target to be generated basedat least in part on reflected infrared light being received by the oneor more infrared light sensors 210IR.

Then gate lines (Gate n+1, Gate n+2, Gate n+3) connected to red OLEDsub-pixel 310R, blue OLED sub-pixel 310B, green OLED sub-pixel 310G areturned on and a general display is performed through the driving of adisplay signal part that turns on red OLED sub-pixel 310R, blue OLEDsub-pixel 310B, green OLED sub-pixel 310G (S1012). Restated, at S1012,the OLED light emitter stack 300 is driven to emit light to display oneor more images. Unless and until the biometric recognition is completedat S1009, the locking device is turned on again or maintained on (S1013)and Step (S1005) is operated again.

Although FIG. 3 exemplifies a fingerprint of a finger 500 as a biometricsubject, it may be applied for various biometric subjects (“recognitiontargets”) such as a palm print, an iris, a retina, and a face.

The visible light sensor embedded OLED display panel illustratedreferring to FIGS. 1 to 6 employs the OLEDs 310 as a light source as itis with no additional light source for the biometric recognition, sothat it may prevent an aperture ratio decrease of the OLED(s) 310 In thearray of OLEDs 310 in the OLED display panel 1000. Accordingly, theutilization of the OLEDs 310 as a light source for the visible lightsensors 210 during a biometric recognition operation enables the OLEDdisplay panel 1000 to be configured to enable performance of thebiometric recognition operation without any reduction in the quantity,spacing, or emission power of the OLEDs, thereby preventing a reductionin the cumulative light transmission area of the OLED display panel(e.g., the “aperture ratio” of the OLED display panel 1000).

In addition, as the visible light sensor 210 is formed in a stackstructure under the non-light emitting region which does not have aneffect on the aperture ratio of the OLED(s) 310, it may maintain theaperture ratio of the OLED light emitter(s) 310 as it is. In addition,the biometric recognition sensor is used as a visible light sensor tomaximize the incident light dose, so that it may improve accuracy andefficiency of biometric recognition.

The visible light sensor 210 is formed of an organic material and thusmay be bent or stretchable. Accordingly, the visible light sensor 210may contribute to easily realizing a flexible display device and thusimprove portability and versatility of a display device.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a pixel layout of a light emitter ofa visible light sensor embedded organic light emitting diode (OLED)display panel according to some example embodiments, and FIG. 8 is across-sectional view of a visible light sensor embedded OLED displaypanel according to some example embodiments. The cross-sectional viewshown in FIG. 8 may be a cross-sectional view of the OLED display panel1000 shown in FIG. 7 along view line VIII-VIII′.

A visible light sensor embedded OLED display panel 1000 according tosome example embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 includes an OLEDlight emitter stack 300 and a visible light sensor 2210 disposed on thesame plane as the OLED light emitter stack 300, such that the visiblelight sensor 2210 is in the non-light emitting region 800 of the OLEDlight emitter stack 300 (e.g., the non-light emitting region 800 that isadjacent to one or more OLEDs 310 of the OLED light emitter stack 300)and is aligned with at least one adjacent OLED 310 (e.g., at least oneOLED 310 of the OLED sub-pixels 310R, 310G, or 310B) of the OLED lightemitter stack 300 in a horizontal direction extending in parallel to anupper surface 110 u of the substrate 110 (e.g., an x-direction). It willbe understood that the visible light sensor 2210 shown in FIG. 8,horizontally aligned with at least one adjacent OLED light emitter(e.g., sub-pixel 310B) may be understood to be included in the OLEDlight emitter stack 300 along with the sub-pixels 310R, 310G, and 310B.As shown in FIG. 7, the visible light sensor 2210 in the non-lightemitting region 800 of the OLED light emitter stack 300 may have a shapeand size so as to extend continuously along and around one or more OLEDS310 of a unit pixel (Px) and/or between two or more adjacent OLEDs 310of a unit pixel (Px), or may simply occupy a portion of the non-lightemitting region 800 that is bounded by proximate OLEDs 310.

The OLED display panel 1000 is a structure in which the OLED lightemitter stack 300 and the driver 100 are stacked. In the OLED lightemitter stack 300, one unit pixel (Px) is formed with sub-pixels 310R,310G, and 310B emitting lights R, G, B having different wavelengths fromeach other, and the unit pixels (Px) are repeated and arranged in amatrix. Thus, the visible light sensor 2210 may be formed in a non-lightemitting region 800 between each OLED sub-pixels or a part of green OLEDregion 900.

For example, where a OLED display panel 1000 includes a pattern of redOLED sub-pixels 310R, a pattern of green OLED sub-pixels 310G, and apattern of blue OLED sub-pixels 310B, one or more of the green OLEDs 310in the pattern of green sub-pixels 310G may be replaced (“substituted”)with one or more visible light sensors 2210, such that the one or morevisible light sensors 2210 occupy a location in the OLED light emitterstack 300 that corresponds to a location of a green OLED sub-pixel 310Gin the pattern of green OLED sub-pixels 310G in the OLED display panel1000. The visible light sensor 2210 that replaces a green OLED 310 inthe OLED display panel may be referred to as being “in” a greensub-pixel 310G of the OLED display panel 1000/OLED light emitter stack300. It will be understood that one or more visible light sensors 2210may, in addition or in alternative to being “in” a green sub-pixel 310G,be “in” a red sub-pixel 310R and/or a blue sub-pixel 310B.

The OLED display panel 1000 illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 is a displaypanel having a display resolution of less than or equal to about2220×1080 (FHD), which is appropriate in the case of an aperture ratiobetween sub-pixels (Sub-Px) of less than or equal to about 40%. But thepresent disclosure is not necessarily limited to the resolution and theaperture ratio.

The OLED light emitter stack 300 is a region for displaying an image andalso a region for emitting light for biometric recognition,simultaneously. The visible light sensor 2210 may include an organicphotodiode as in the OLED 310 for the OLED light emitter stack 300. Inthis case, the upper electrode of the OLED 310 and the upper electrodeof the visible light sensor 2210 may be formed with a transflectiveelectrode, and the lower electrode of the OLED 310 and the lowerelectrode of the visible light sensor 2210 may be formed with areflective electrode. For example, the upper electrode of the OLED 310and the upper electrode of the visible light sensor 2210 may be formedof MgAg, Ag, Mg, Al, and the like. The lower electrode of the OLED 310and the lower electrode of the visible light sensor 2210 may be formedof Al, Ag, Mo, AlNd, Mo/Al/Mo, TiN, ITO/Ag/ITO, ITO/Al/ITO, ITO/Mo/ITO,and the like.

In addition, the visible light absorption layer for the visible lightsensor 2210 may be formed of an organic material configured to absorbvisible light through the whole region of the visible light, as in someexample embodiments. For example, it may include any materials suitablefor absorbing visible light such as squaraine based, D-π-A based, Bodipybased, phthalocyanine based materials, and the like.

The fingerprint recognition of the OLED display panel 1000 illustratedin FIGS. 7 and 8 is performed according to the same process as describedwith references to FIGS. 3 to 6, so the descriptions thereof areomitted.

In the visible light sensors 210/2210 illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 8, anorganic photodiode configured to absorb visible light is exemplified,but the visible light sensors 210/2210 may be embodied by (“mayinclude”) a-Si based P-I-N photodiode, a poly-Si based P-I-N photodiode,a CIGS (Cu, In, Ga, Se) photodiode (III-V photodiode), or a Cd—Tephotodiode (II-VI photodiode).

FIGS. 9A-9C are schematic views of smart phones 1100 including thevisible light sensor embedded OLED display panel 1000.

FIG. 9A shows that the visible light sensor embedded OLED display panel1000 recognizes a fingerprint 501, FIG. 9B shows the case of recognizingan iris 1500, and FIG. 9C shows the case of recognizing a face 2500. Asshown in FIG. 9B, the OLED display panel 1000 may display an image ofthe recognition target (e.g., iris) and may further display an icon thathighlights and/or overlays the image of the recognition target, forexample to provide an observable indication of the recognition targetfor which a biometric recognition operation is being performed.

FIGS. 9A-9C show a smart phone 1100 as one example of the displaydevice, but it may be applied to a screen such as a TV as well as for amulti-media player, a tablet PC, or the like that are capable ofemploying the visible light sensor embedded OLED display panel 1000, inaddition to the smart phone 1100.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing a visible light sensorembedded OLED display panel that includes a touch sensor according tosome example embodiments. The cross-sectional view shown in FIG. 10 maybe a cross-sectional view of the OLED display panel 1000 shown in FIG. 1along view line II-II′.

Referring to FIG. 10, in some example embodiments, an OLED display panel1000 may include a touch sensor 1010. As shown in the cross-sectionalview of FIG. 10, the touch sensor 1010 may extend between the coverglass 450 and the OLED light emitter stack 300, but example embodimentsare not limited thereto. For example, in some example embodiments, thecover glass 450 may be between the touch sensor 1010 and the OLED lightemitter stack 300, the OLED light emitter stack 300 may be between thecover glass 450 and the touch sensor 1010, or the like.

A touch sensor 1010 may include one or more sensor electrodes in a moldlayer and may be electrically connected, via one or more electrical wirewith a device (e.g., a transistor) in the driver 100. The one or moresensor electrodes may be, for example, a transparent electrode, whichmay be formed of or include indium tin oxide (ITO), zinc oxide (ZnO),indium zinc oxide (IZO), cadmium tin oxide (CTO), graphene, carbonnanotube (CNT), and so forth, an opaque electrode, which may be formedof or include a metal (e.g., copper (Cu), silver (Ag), and aluminum(Al)), or any combination thereof.

In some example embodiments, the touch sensor 1010 is configured togenerate one or more signals based on a recognition target (e.g., finger500) contacting a particular pixel (Px) of the OLED display panel 1000,where separate signals may be generated for different pixels (Px)contacted by the recognition target. Accordingly, particular pixels (Px)in contact with the recognition target may be determined based onprocessing of said one or more signals generated by the touch sensor1010. Such processing and determination may be implemented by processingcircuitry as described further herein with reference to FIG. 13.

While FIG. 10 illustrates example embodiments of the touch sensor 1010being included in an OLED display panel 1000 featuring a visible lightsensor stack 200 between the OLED light emitter stack 300 and thesubstrate 110, it will be understood that the touch sensor 1010 may beincluded in any of the example embodiments of OLED display panels,including OLED display panels that include a visible light sensor in anon-light emitting region of the OLED light emitter stack, as describedherein with reference to at least FIGS. 7-8.

It will be understood that the touch sensor 1010 shown in FIG. 10 is anexample: in some example embodiments, the touch sensor 1010 may be anytouch sensor known in the art.

FIGS. 11A-11C are cross-sectional views showing visible light sensorembedded OLED display panels that include an infrared light emitter andan infrared light sensor according to some example embodiments.

Referring to FIGS. 11A-11C, in some example embodiments, an OLED displaypanel 1000 may include, in addition to an OLED 310 and a visible lightsensor 210, an infrared photosensor embedded in the OLED display panel1000, including an infrared light emitter 310IR and an infrared lightsensor 210IR. It will be understood that an infrared light emitter 310IRmay be a near infrared (NIR) light emitter, and an infrared light sensor210IR may be an NIR light sensor. Accordingly, the OLED display panel1000 may include an infrared light emitter 310IR on the substrate 110,where the infrared light emitter 310IR is configured to emit infraredlight 330IR, and an infrared light sensor 210IR on the substrate, wherethe infrared light sensor 210IR is configured to detect at least aportion 245IR of the emitted infrared light 330IR based on reflection ofthe portion 245IR of the emitted infrared light 330IR from a recognitiontarget. As shown in FIGS. 11A-11C, the infrared light emitter 310IR maybe configured to emit infrared light 330IR out of the OLED display panelin a same direction as the light 330 emitted by the OLEDs 310, and theinfrared light sensor 210IR may be configured to detect light 245IRreceived at the infrared light sensor 210IR from the same direction(e.g., light 2451R is received at the infrared light sensor 210IRthrough a same surface through which both the OLEDs 310 and the infraredlight emitter 310IR may emit light).

As shown in FIGS. 11A-11C, the infrared light emitter 310IR and theinfrared light sensor 210IR may be embedded in the OLED display panel1000 according to the same configurations of OLEDs 310 and visible lightsensors 210/2210 as described herein with reference to at least FIGS.1-8. For example, as shown in FIGS. 11A-11C, the infrared light emitter310IR may be included in the OLED light emitter stack 300 in one or moreparticular pixels (Px) of the OLED display panel 1000, and the infraredlight sensor 210IR may be between one or more non-light emitting regions800 of the OLED light emitter stack 300 and the substrate 110 (FIGS.11A-11B) and/or in one or more non-light emitting regions of the OLEDlight emitter stack 300 that are adjacent to one or more OLEDs 310 ofthe OLED light emitter stack 300 (FIG. 11C).

It will be understood that, as shown in FIGS. 11A-11C, the infraredlight emitter 310IR and/or infrared light sensor 210IR may be includedin different pixels (Px) of the OLED display panel 1000 from the one ormore pixels (Px) that include one or more visible light sensors 210,such that a given pixel (Px) and/or sub-pixel of the OLED display panel1000 that includes an infrared light sensor 210IR and/or infrared lightemitter 310IR does not include a visible light sensor 210. It will alsobe understood that, in some example embodiments, the infrared lightemitter 310IR and/or infrared light sensor 210IR may be included in asame (common) pixel (Px) of the OLED display panel 1000 as one or morepixels (Px) that include one or more visible light sensors 210.

The infrared light emitter 310IR may include an organic emission layer311IR that is configured to emit light in an infrared wavelengthspectrum (e.g., one or more infrared wavelengths in a wavelengthspectrum ranging from about 800 nm to about 1500 nm) and a firstelectrode 313IR and a second electrode 315IR formed under and over theorganic emission layer 311IR, respectively (e.g., on opposite surfacesof the organic emission layer 311IR, as shown in at least FIG. 11A). Theorganic emission layer 311IR may be formed of (“may at least partiallycomprise”) any material that is well-known to be appropriate foremitting light in a desired infrared wavelength. The second electrode315IR may be formed as (“may at least partially comprise”) a transparentelectrode in order to be configured to enable infrared light emittedfrom the infrared light emitter 310IR to exit the OLED display panel1000. For example, the second electrode 315IR may be formed of (“may atleast partially comprise”) ITO, IZO, AlZO, AlTO, or the like. The firstelectrode 313IR may be formed as (“may at least partially comprise”) areflective electrode configured to enable the emitted infrared light tobe emitted toward the second electrode 315IR through resonance, and thesecond electrode 315IR may be a transparent electrode. For example, thesecond electrode 315IR may be formed of (“may at least partiallycomprise”) Al, Ag. Mo, AlNd, Mo/Al/Mo, TiN, ITO/Ag/ITO, ITO/Al/ITO,ITO/Mo/ITO, or the like.

The infrared light sensor 210IR may be an organic photodiode includingan organic light-absorbing layer 211IR that is configured to absorblight in an infrared wavelength and a first electrode 213IR and a secondelectrode 215IR formed under and over the organic light-absorbing layer211IR, respectively (e.g., on opposite surfaces of the organiclight-absorbing layer 211IR, as shown in at least FIG. 11A). The organiclight-absorbing layer 211IR may be formed of (“may at least partiallycomprise”) any well-known material appropriate for absorbing(“configured to absorb”) light of an infrared wavelength. In otherwords, the organic light-absorbing layer 211IR may be formed of (“may atleast partially comprise”) any well-known appropriate material forabsorbing (“configured to absorb”) light in a wavelength region(“wavelength spectrum”) of about 800 to about 1500 nm. The secondelectrode 215IR of the infrared light sensor 210IR may at leastpartially comprise a transparent electrode. In some example embodiments,the second electrode 215IR may be formed of (“may at least partiallycomprise”) a transparent electrode having transmittance of about 80% orgreater (e.g., equal to or greater than about 80%). For example, thesecond electrode 215IR may be formed of (“may at least partiallycomprise”) ITO, IZO, AlTO, carbon nanotube (CNT), graphene, nanosilver(Nano Ag), or the like. The first electrode 213IR may be formed as (“mayat least partially comprise”) a reflective electrode so that theincident infrared light is not transmitted and lost. For example, thefirst electrode 213IR may be formed of (“may at least partiallycomprise”) Al, Ag, Mo, AlNd, Mo/Al/Mo, TiN, ITO/Ag/ITO, ITO/Al/ITO,ITO/Mo/ITO or the like.

In some example embodiments, in a given pixel (Px) of the OLED displaypanel 1000 that includes at least one infrared light emitter 310IR, theinfrared light sensor 210IR, which may also define an infraredsub-pixel, may be included in a same (common) pixel (Px) of the OLEDdisplay panel 1000 as red, green, and blue sub-pixels 310R, 310G, 310B.However, it will also be understood that, in some example embodiments,including the example embodiments shown in FIGS. 11A-11C, one or morepixels (Px) may include an infrared light emitter 310IR that is includedin place of one of the red, green, or blue OLEDs 310 in one of thesub-pixels 310R, 310G, 310B, for example in a position that wouldotherwise be occupied by the one of the red, green, or blue OLEDS 310 inthe one of the sub-pixels 310R, 310G, 310B in a pattern of said red,green, or blue sub-pixels 310R, 310G, 310B in the OLED display panel1000. Such pixels (Px) that include an infrared light emitter 310IR inone of said red, green, or blue sub-pixels 310R, 310G, 310B may be alimited proportion of the total pixels (Px) of the OLED display panel1000 pixel array, and such pixels (Px) may be included in a limitedregion of the OLED display panel pixel array.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing various regions of a visible lightsensor embedded OLED display panel having different light sensorconfigurations according to some example embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 12, the OLED display panel 1000 may include an arrayof unit pixels (Px) of the OLED display panel 1000, where each unitpixel (Px) includes at least one OLED light emitter. As shown, the arrayof unit pixels (Px) may extend through a total area TA of the OLEDdisplay panel 1000. Accordingly, the OLED display panel 1000 may includean array of OLEDs 310 on the substrate 110 and an array of light sensors210 and/or 210IR.

Still referring to FIG. 12, the array of unit pixels (Px) of the OLEDdisplay panel 1000 may extend through multiple regions 1201-1206 of theOLED display panel 1000. Each region 1201-1206 will be understood to bea portion or entirety of the total area of the OLED display panel 1000.

As shown, in FIG. 12, the array of unit pixels (Px) may extend through afirst region 1201 of the OLED display panel 1000, where the first region1201 extends over a total area of the OLED display panel 1000. Each unitpixel (Px) that extends through the first region 1201 may include atleast one OLED 310 of the OLED light emitter stack 300. Restated, theOLED light emitter stack 300 may be included in each of the pixels (Px)that extend through the first region 1201 and the array of OLEDs 310 mayextend throughout the entirety of the first region 1201.

Still referring to FIG. 12, the array of unit pixels (Px) may extendthrough different regions 1202-1206 that are different from the firstregion 1201 and may be entirely encompassed within the first region1201, such that each region 1202-1206 is smaller than the first region1201 and regions 1202-1206 collectively define the first region 1201.

In some example embodiments, different regions 1202-1206 may includedifferent configurations of light emitters and light sensors. Forexample, each unit pixel (Px) in the second region 1202 of the OLEDdisplay panel 1000, encompassed within the first region 1201, mayinclude one or more OLEDs 310 and may further include one or morevisible light sensors 210/2210, for example as shown in any of theexample embodiments described above with reference to FIGS. 1-8, andfurthermore each unit pixel (Px) in the second region 1202 may notinclude any infrared light emitters 310IR or infrared light sensors210IR. In another example, each unit pixel (Px) in the third region 1204of the OLED display panel 1000 may include one or more OLEDs 310,similarly to the unit pixels (Px) in the second region 1202, and mayfurther include one or more visible light sensors 210 and/or one or moreinfrared light sensors 210IR. In some example embodiments, the unitpixels (Px) in the third region 1204 of the OLED display panel 1000 mayinclude a first pattern of pixels (Px) that include one or more OLEDs310, similarly to the unit pixels (Px) in the second region 1202, andfurther include one or more infrared light sensors 210IR and/or one ormore infrared light emitters 310IR but no visible light sensors and asecond pattern of pixels (Px) that include one or more OLEDs 310,similarly to the unit pixels (Px) in the second region 1202, and furtherinclude one or more visible light sensors but not infrared light sensors210IR or infrared light emitters 310IR. In some example embodiments,each unit pixel (Px) in the third region 1204 of the OLED display panel1000 may include one or more OLEDs 310, similarly to the unit pixels(Px) in the second region 1202, and may further include one or moreinfrared light sensors 210IR and/or one or more infrared light emitters310IR but no visible light sensors 210. In yet another example, eachunit pixel (Px) in the fourth region 1206 of the OLED display panel 1000may include one or more OLEDs 310, similarly to the unit pixels (Px) inthe second and third regions 1202 and 1204, but may not include visibleor infrared light sensors 210/210IR. One or more unit pixels (Px) in thethird and fourth regions 1204 and 1206 may include one or more infraredlight emitters 310IR in addition to or in place of one or more OLEDlight emitters that are included in each pixel (Px) in the second region1202.

Restating the above, while the array of OLEDs 310 may extend through thefirst region 1201, the array of visible light sensors 210 (which mayconsist of all of the visible light sensors of the OLED display panel1000) may extend through the second region 1202 but may not extendthrough any of the third and fourth regions 1204, 1206. Accordingly, atleast the third region 1204 may include at least one OLED 310 and novisible light sensors 210. In addition, an array of infrared lightemitters 310IR (which may consist of all of the infrared light emittersof the OLED display panel 1000) and an array of infrared light sensors2101R (which may consist of all of the infrared light sensors of theOLED display panel 1000) may extend through at least a portion of thefirst region 1201, for example may not extend through the second region1202, may not extend through the third region 1204 and/or fourth region1206, may only extend through the third region 1204, any combinationthereof, or the like.

In some example embodiments, the light emitters and/or light sensors indifferent regions 1202-1206 of the OLED display panel 1000 may be drivendifferently during a biometric recognition operation. For example, whena biometric recognition operation is performed at least partially basedon a determination that a recognition target (e.g., a fingerprint) hascontacted one or more pixels (Px) in the second region 1202, OLEDs 310and visible light sensors 210 in one or more, or all, pixels (Px) in thesecond region 1202 may be driven to emit light or detect incident light,respectively, and some or all of the light emitters and light sensors inthe third and fourth regions 1204 and 1206 may be inactive (e.g., notdriven), thereby conserving power consumption. In another example, whena biometric recognition operation is performed based on a determinationthat a recognition target (e.g., a face or iris) is in a proximity(e.g., field of view) of one or more light sensors of the OLED displaypanel 1000, the infrared light emitters and infrared light sensors 310IRand 210IR in the third region 1204 may be driven to emit light or detectincident light, respectively, and some or all of the OLED light emittersand OLED light sensors in one or more of the second, third, and fourthregions 1202, 1204, and 1206 may be inactive (e.g., not driven), therebyconserving power consumption. It will be understood that exampleembodiments are not limited to the above examples.

In some example embodiments, one or more of the regions 1202-1206 mayhave various shapes and sizes. In FIG. 12, for example, the secondregion 1202 includes the center C of the area of the OLED display panel,which is also the center of the area of the first region 1201, butexample embodiments are not limited thereto. Additionally, as shown inFIG. 12, the second region 1202 does not extend to any of the edges E ofthe OLED display panel 1000, but example embodiments are not limitedthereto: in some example embodiments, the second region 1202 may extendto one or more of the edges E of the OLED display panel 1000 and/or maynot extend through the center C of the OLED display panel 1000. In someexample embodiments, including the example embodiments shown in FIG. 12,the third region 1204 may extend between at least one side of the secondregion 1202 and at least one edge of the OLED display panel 1000. Insome example embodiments, including the example embodiments shown inFIG. 12, the third region 1204 may completely surround the second region1202 and may be between all sides of the second region 1202 and alledges E of the OLED display panel 1000, but example embodiments are notlimited thereto.

As shown in FIG. 12, the third and fourth regions 1204 and 1206 may havea same (common) ring shape and may concentrically surround the secondregion 1202, but example embodiments are not limited thereto. Forexample, the third and fourth regions may have different shapes and maypartially surround different portions of the second region 1202.

It will be understood that the OLED display panel 1000 may includedifferent quantities of regions than what is shown in FIG. 12. Forexample, the OLED display panel 1000 may be limited to a single region1201 in which all pixels (Px) include identical configurations of OLEDlight emitters and visible light sensors. In another example, the OLEDdisplay panel 1000 may include a greater quantity of separate regions,each having separate sets of pixels (Px) that include separate,respective configurations of light emitters and light sensors, than asshown in FIG. 12. In another example, in some example embodiments,fourth region 1206 may be absent as a separate region, and the thirdregion 1204 may extend entirely between the second region 1202 as shownin FIG. 12 and the edges E of the OLED display panel 1000.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a display device that includes one ormore visible light sensor embedded OLED display panels according to someexample embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 13, display device 1300 includes a bus 1310, aprocessor 1320, a memory 1330, and one or more OLED display panels 1340.As shown, in some example embodiments, the display device 1300 mayfurther include one or more additional devices 1350. The processor 1320,a memory 1330, and one or more OLED display panels 1340 (and wherepresent, the one or more additional devices 1350) may communicate withone another through the bus 1310.

The one or more OLED display panels 1340 may each be any of the visiblelight sensor embedded OLED display panels included in any of the exampleembodiments.

The processor 1320 may include one or more instances of processingcircuitry such as hardware including logic circuits; a hardware/softwarecombination such as a processor executing software; or a combinationthereof. For example, the processing circuitry more specifically mayinclude, but is not limited to, a central processing unit (CPU), anarithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signal processor, amicrocomputer, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a System-on-Chip(SoC), a programmable logic unit, a microprocessor, application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), etc. In some example embodiments, theprocessing circuitry may include a non-transitory computer readablestorage device, for example a solid state drive (SSD), storing a programof instructions, and a processor configured to execute the program ofinstructions to implement the functionality of the processor 1320 and/orone or more OLED display panels 1340.

Referring back to at least FIGS. 3-8, the processor 1320 may partiallyor entirely implement the functionality of the OLED display panels 1000embedded with one or more visible light sensors 210 and/or 2210,including implementing some or all of the operations illustrated in theoperation algorithm in the flowchart of FIG. 3, implementing operationsof biometric recognition, for example fingerprint recognition by usingof the visible light sensor embedded organic light emitting diode (OLED)display panel according to some example embodiments as shown in FIG. 4,and transmitting and/or receiving signals according to the timingdiagram of FIG. 6. Accordingly, the processor 1320 may control displayoperations of the one or more OLED display panels 1340 to display one ormore images and/or may control biometric recognition operationsimplemented based at least in part upon at least one or more lightsensors embedded in one or more OLED display panels 1340.

The one or more additional devices 1350 may include one or morecommunication interfaces (e.g., wireless communication interface, wiredinterface), user interfaces (e.g., keypad, mouse, button, etc.), powersupply and/or power supply interface, any combination thereof, or thelike.

It will be understood that the memory 1330 may store a program ofinstructions and the processor 1320 may execute the stored program ofinstructions to implement functionality associated with the displaydevice 1300 and/or one or more OLED display panels 1340, includingperforming one or more biometric recognition operations.

The units and/or modules described herein may be implemented usinghardware components and software components. For example, the hardwarecomponents may include microphones, amplifiers, band-pass filters, audioto digital convertors, and processing devices. A processing device maybe implemented using one or more hardware device configured to carry outand/or execute program code by performing arithmetical, logical, andinput/output operations. The processing device(s) may include aprocessor, a controller and an arithmetic logic unit, a digital signalprocessor, a microcomputer, a field programmable array, a programmablelogic unit, a microprocessor or any other device capable of respondingto and executing instructions in a defined manner. The processing devicemay run an operating system (OS) and one or more software applicationsthat run on the OS. The processing device also may access, store,manipulate, process, and create data in response to execution of thesoftware. For purpose of simplicity, the description of a processingdevice is used as singular; however, one skilled in the art willappreciated that a processing device may include multiple processingelements and multiple types of processing elements. For example, aprocessing device may include multiple processors or a processor and acontroller. In addition, different processing configurations arepossible, such a parallel processors.

The software may include a computer program, a piece of code, aninstruction, or some combination thereof, to independently orcollectively instruct and/or configure the processing device to operateas desired, thereby transforming the processing device into a specialpurpose processor. Software and data may be embodied permanently ortemporarily in any type of machine, component, physical or virtualequipment, computer storage medium or device, or in a propagated signalwave capable of providing instructions or data to or being interpretedby the processing device. The software also may be distributed overnetwork coupled computer systems so that the software is stored andexecuted in a distributed fashion. The software and data may be storedby one or more non-transitory computer readable recording mediums.

The methods according to the above-described example embodiments may berecorded in non-transitory computer-readable media including programinstructions to implement various operations of the above-describedexample embodiments. The media may also include, alone or in combinationwith the program instructions, data files, data structures, and thelike. The program instructions recorded on the media may be thosespecially designed and constructed for the purposes of exampleembodiments, or they may be of the kind well-known and available tothose having skill in the computer software arts. Examples ofnon-transitory computer-readable media include magnetic media such ashard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such asCD-ROM discs, DVDs, and/or Blue-ray discs; magneto-optical media such asoptical discs; and hardware devices that are specially configured tostore and perform program instructions, such as read-only memory (ROM),random access memory (RAM), flash memory (e.g., USB flash drives, memorycards, memory sticks, etc.), and the like. Examples of programinstructions include both machine code, such as produced by a compiler,and files containing higher level code that may be executed by thecomputer using an interpreter. The above-described devices may beconfigured to act as one or more software modules in order to performthe operations of the above-described example embodiments, or viceversa.

While this disclosure has been described in connection with what ispresently considered to be practical example embodiments, it is to beunderstood that the inventive concepts are not limited to the disclosedexample embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover variousmodifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

It should be understood that example embodiments described herein shouldbe considered in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes oflimitation. Descriptions of features or aspects within each device ormethod according to example embodiments should typically be consideredas available for other similar features or aspects in other devices ormethods according to example embodiments. While at least one exampleembodiment have been particularly shown and described, it will beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art that variations in formand detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit andscope of the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An OLED display panel, comprising: a substrate; adriver stack on the substrate, the driver stack including a transistorarray; an OLED light emitter on the substrate and the driver stack, theOLED light emitter configured to emit light; and a visible light sensoron the substrate and the driver stack, the visible light sensorconfigured to detect at least a portion of the emitted light based onreflection of the portion of the emitted light from a recognitiontarget, wherein the visible light sensor is in a non-light emittingregion adjacent to the OLED light emitter so as to be horizontallyaligned with the OLED light emitter in a horizontal direction extendingparallel to an upper surface of the substrate, or between the substrateand a non-light emitting region that is adjacent to the OLED lightemitter such that the visible light sensor is vertically aligned withthe non-light emitting region in a vertical direction extendingperpendicular to the upper surface of the substrate.
 2. The OLED displaypanel of claim 1, wherein the visible light sensor is configured toabsorb light in an entirety of a wavelength spectrum of visible light.3. The OLED display panel of claim 1, wherein the visible light sensorincludes an organic photodiode including an organic material.
 4. TheOLED display panel of claim 1, wherein the visible light sensor includesan a-Si-based P-I-N photodiode, a poly-Si-based P-I-N photodiode, a CIGS(Cu—In—Ga—Se) photodiode, or a Cd—Te photodiode.
 5. An OLED displaypanel, comprising: a substrate; a driver stack on the substrate, thedriver stack including a transistor array; an OLED light emitter stackon the substrate and the driver stack, the OLED light emitter stackincluding a plurality of sub-pixels, including a red OLED sub-pixel, agreen OLED sub-pixel, and a blue OLED sub-pixel, each of the red, green,and blue OLED sub-pixels configured to emit light; and a visible lightsensor on the substrate and the driver stack, the visible light sensorconfigured to detect at least a portion of the emitted light based onreflection of the portion of the emitted light from a recognitiontarget, wherein the visible light sensor is in a non-light emittingregion of the OLED light emitter stack so as to be horizontally alignedwith at least one adjacent OLED sub-pixel of the OLED light emitterstack in a horizontal direction extending parallel to an upper surfaceof the substrate, or between the substrate and a non-light emittingregion of the OLED light emitter stack such that the visible lightsensor is vertically aligned with the non-light emitting region of theOLED light emitter stack in a vertical direction extending perpendicularto the upper surface of the substrate.
 6. The OLED display panel ofclaim 5, wherein the visible light sensor is configured to absorb lightin an entirety of a wavelength spectrum of visible light.
 7. The OLEDdisplay panel of claim 5, wherein the visible light sensor includes anorganic photodiode including an organic material.
 8. The OLED displaypanel of claim 5, wherein the visible light sensor includes ana-Si-based P-I-N photodiode, a poly-Si-based P-I-N photodiode, a CIGS(Cu—In—Ga—Se) photodiode, or a Cd—Te photodiode.
 9. The OLED displaypanel of claim 5, wherein the visible light sensor is partiallyoverlapped with at least one OLED sub-pixel of the OLED light emitterstack in the vertical direction.
 10. The OLED display panel of claim 5,wherein the visible light sensor includes an organic photodiodeincluding a lower electrode, an upper electrode, and a visible lightabsorption layer between the lower and upper electrodes, the lowerelectrode is a reflecting electrode, and the upper electrode is atransparent electrode.
 11. An OLED display panel, comprising: asubstrate; a driver stack on the substrate; and an OLED light emitterstack on the driver stack, the OLED light emitter stack including aplurality of sub-pixels configured to emit light and a visible lightsensor, the plurality of sub-pixels including a red OLED sub-pixel, agreen OLED sub-pixel, and a blue OLED sub-pixel, the visible lightsensor is configured to detect at least a portion of the emitted lightbased on reflection of the portion of the emitted light from arecognition target, wherein the visible light sensor is in the greenOLED sub-pixel.
 12. The OLED display panel of claim 11, wherein thevisible light sensor is configured to absorb light in an entirety of awavelength spectrum of visible light.
 13. The OLED display panel ofclaim 11, wherein the visible light sensor includes an organicphotodiode including an organic material.
 14. The OLED display panel ofclaim 11, wherein the visible light sensor includes an a-Si-basedphotodiode, a poly-Si-based P-I-N photodiode, a CIGS (Cu—In—Ga—Se)photodiode, or a Cd—Te photodiode.
 15. The OLED display panel of claim11, wherein the visible light sensor includes an organic photodiodeincluding a lower electrode, an upper electrode, and a visible lightabsorption layer between the lower and upper electrodes, the lowerelectrode is a reflecting electrode, and the upper electrode is atransflective electrode.
 16. A display device comprising the OLEDdisplay panel of claim
 1. 17. A display device comprising the OLEDdisplay panel of claim
 5. 18. A display device comprising the OLEDdisplay panel of claim
 11. 19. A method for performing biometricrecognition of a user of a display device, the display including theOLED display panel of claim 1, the method comprising: driving the OLEDlight emitter to emit light and further driving the visible light sensorto detect at least a portion of the emitted light based on reflection ofthe portion of the emitted light from a recognition target that is aportion of the user, in response to a determination that the OLED lightemitter is turned on, user access to the display device is disabled, andthe recognition target is in a certain proximity to the OLED displaypanel; and turning off the visible light sensor, granting user access tothe display device, and driving the OLED light emitter to display animage, in response to a determination that recognition of therecognition target is completed via comparison of a referencerecognition target image with an image of the recognition targetgenerated based on an output signal of the visible light sensor inresponse to detecting the reflected portion of the emitted light. 20.The method of claim 19, wherein the determination that the recognitiontarget is in the certain proximity to the OLED display panel is based onreceiving a signal from a touch sensor of the OLED display panel. 21.The method of claim 19, wherein the driving the OLED light emitterincludes selectively driving a particular limited set of OLED lightemitters of an array of OLED light emitters of the OLED display panel,and the further driving the visible light sensor includes selectivelydriving a particular limited set of visible light sensors of an array ofvisible light sensors of the OLED display panel.
 22. The method of claim21, wherein the determination that the recognition target is in thecertain proximity to the OLED display panel is based on receiving asignal from a touch sensor of the OLED display panel, the signalindicating a limited area, of a total area of a surface of the OLEDdisplay panel, that is in contact with the recognition target, thedriving the OLED light emitter includes selectively driving theparticular limited set of OLED light emitters that are a limited portionof the array of OLED light emitters that vertically overlap with thelimited area in response to a determination that the recognition targetis in contact with the limited area, and the further driving the visiblelight sensor includes selectively driving the particular limited set ofvisible light sensors that are a limited portion of the array of visiblelight sensors that vertically overlap with the limited area in responseto the determination that the recognition target is in contact with thelimited area.
 23. The OLED display panel of claim 1, further comprising:an infrared light emitter on the substrate, the infrared light emitterconfigured to emit infrared light; and an infrared light sensor on thesubstrate, the infrared light sensor configured to detect at least aportion of the emitted infrared light based on reflection of the portionof the emitted infrared light from the recognition target, wherein theinfrared light sensor is in a separate non-light emitting region that isadjacent to the OLED light emitter, or between the substrate and aseparate non-light emitting region that is adjacent to the OLED lightemitter.
 24. An OLED display panel, comprising a substrate; an array ofOLED light emitters on the substrate, the array of OLED light emittersincluding an OLED light emitter configured to emit light; and an arrayof visible light sensors on the substrate, the array of visible lightsensors including a visible light sensor configured to detect at least aportion of the emitted light based on a reflection of the portion of theemitted light from a recognition target, wherein the visible lightsensor is in a non-light emitting region adjacent to the OLED lightemitter so as to be horizontally aligned with the OLED light emitter ina horizontal direction extending parallel to an upper surface of thesubstrate, or between the substrate and a non-light emitting region thatis adjacent to the OLED light emitter such that the visible light sensoris vertically aligned with the non-light emitting region in a verticaldirection extending perpendicular to the upper surface of the substrate,wherein the array of OLED light emitters extends through a first regionof the OLED display panel, and the array of visible light sensorsextends through a second region of the OLED display panel, the secondregion being smaller than the first region, such that the array ofvisible light sensors do not extend through at least a third region ofthe OLED display panel that includes at least one OLED light emitter ofthe array of OLED light emitters, and no visible light sensors.
 25. TheOLED display panel of claim 24, wherein the first region extends over atotal area of the OLED display panel, the second region extends over alimited area of the OLED display panel, and the third region extendsbetween at least one side of the second region and at least one edge ofthe OLED display panel.
 26. The OLED display panel of claim 25, whereinthe third region completely surrounds the second region and is betweenall sides of the second region and all edges of the OLED display panel.27. The OLED display panel of claim 24, further comprising: an array ofinfrared light emitters on the substrate, the array of infrared lightemitters configured to emit infrared light; and an array of infraredlight sensors on the substrate, the array of infrared light sensorsconfigured to detect at least a portion of the emitted infrared lightbased on reflection of the portion of the emitted infrared light fromthe recognition target, wherein the array of infrared light emitters andthe array of infrared light sensors extend through at least a portion ofthe first region.
 28. The OLED display panel of claim 27, wherein thearray of infrared light emitters and the array of infrared light sensorsdo not extend through the second region.
 29. The OLED display panel ofclaim 27, wherein the array of infrared light emitters and the array ofinfrared light sensors do not extend through the third region.